Today on Weekly Prompts the Weekend challenge is: Side by Side. Please visit their fabulous site by clicking on here >> Here. The poem below is my response to their prompt
Up and Down
Wake up
Stroll up
Walk down
Lockdown
Pent up
Shut up
Sit down
Lockdown
Numb foot
Stay put
Crazy frown
Lockdown
Light on
Telly on
Food down
Lockdown
Blanket on
Music on
Computer down
Lockdown
Book open
Spirit’s hoping
Eyes down
Lockdown
Ivor Steven (c) July 2021
Again, I cannot get the reblog button to work at my Go Dog Go Cafe site, so I have ‘copied & pasted’ my article today …
My poem here today is from August 2018, and I am not able to explain the thoughts behind my words, except that some promised outcomes to me, were not forfilled and I felt emotionally let down and cheated …
I was blinded
By the light
Losing the fight
I was silenced
By the noise
Standing without poise
I was attacked
By the crown
Breaking me down
I was sentenced
By the people
Hiding under their steeple
Hung out to dry
Nailed to a cross
Punished for my loss
Surviving, burnt my courage
I battled to be bold
Returning from the cold
I refound my faith
Nullifying what they stole
Purifying my lost soul
Ivor Steven (c) Aug 2018
Hi Kerri, my little poem here has nothing to do with you, except for a deliciously tasty cheesecake and coffee … However, from way over here in Geelong, Australia, this lovely Aussie song (1970) is for you and us …
Because
Coffee and cheesecake
Away from a world of snakes
The day’s scrumptious break
Ivor Steven © July 2021
My debut poem at Coffee House Writers is up today … please click on the link below and visit my poem at Coffee House Writers … and let me know what you think of my new venture ..
Silence and Shyness – Coffee House Writers
Ivor Steven (c) July 2021
Save the date! The Anthropocene Hymnal is expected to release on July 24th, 2021. The Anthropocene Hymnal is an upcoming anthology about the different impacts of climate crisis and the global pandemic as written through the perspective of many different poets and writers (including myself). Ingrid Wilson is the author and editor behind this anthology. The cover art is by Kerfe Roig.
The paperback will be available through Amazon initially (with the possibility of expanded distribution at a later date). The Kindle e-book will be available from Amazon, but I will also be selling my own version of the e-book right here on this site. Payment for downloads purchased in this way will be via donation to WWF.
I am not allowed to market the anthology as a charity book as I have no official affiliation with WWF, but I will be donating all of the royalties I receive to them. I have set up a fundraising page, so you can track donations and see just how The Anthropocene Hymnal is raising money to help the planet whilst raising awareness of the existential issues we face.
Please stay tuned for updates on fundraising, sales outlets and contributors, which I will publish in the run-up to the launch date of 24 July.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to, or shown an interest in, this project. I very much look forward to bringing it to fruition!
Ingrid
Ivor Steven .. July 2021
Again, I couldn’t get the ‘Go Dog Go Cafe’ site to reblog my post, so, I have copied and pasted my article here …
This morning in Geelong it’s a cold and thick foggy start to the day, and appropriately I have found this piece from exactly 2 years ago
My foggy morning, is an inky dye
The heavy mist, has kidnapped my sky
Sabotaging my light, the sun disappeared in front of my eyes
And the rear of night, has been left with no respite
There is no start, nor end to my blurry sight
Breathing in moist air, I gasp, where is the moon?
Has my gloomy forecast, unraveled too soon?
Is this sunless day, the beginning of doom?
Ivor Steven (c) July 2019
Please visit my poem at ‘Spillwords’, via this link >
https://spillwords.com/horses-for-courses/ , and give me a ❤ ..
written by: Ivor Steven
@ivors20
there is something about the freedom of horses
beyond green pastures and steeple courses
there is something about the purity of life’s sources
from the snowy mountains down the river courses
there is something about the madness of wartime choices
beyond bloodstained lands of the killing forces
there is something about death’s silent voices
riding in wooden coffins down the hearses brief courses
Ivor Steven was formerly an Industrial Chemist, then a Plumber, and has been writing poetry for 19 years. His book “Tullawalla” was recently published. He has had numerous poems published in anthologies, and on-line magazines. He is an active member of the Geelong Writers Inc.(Australia), and is a team member/barista with the on-line magazine “Go Dog Go Cafe” (America)
My ‘Senryu’ today was written as a response/comment, to Donna’s poem she posted this morning. Her emotional words touched me deeply ..
>> Not A Love Poem | DJ Ranch
Warrior
a warrior girl
gives her life another twirl
survives in her world
Here is Glen Hansard’s song “Don’t Settle”, that I selected to match the emotions behind my ‘Senryu’, sing along with his superb lyrics below
Ivor Steven (c) June 2021
“Don’t Settle”
When you climbed the hill of vision
As above so it was below
Through the apathy and derision
Each step ascending you took alone
And when they pin you in the corner
Pay no heed to their droning on
‘Cause you’re not going back where you don’t belong
Well you rose up through the ranks now
And you worked hard for your luck
You’ve only got yourself to thank now
You and everybody else in the book
And there are hidden hands to guide you
Other forces now at play
But you’ve got to learn to get out of their way
Oh, don’t settle
Oh, not yet
Oh, don’t settle
For less
May your song ring true and bright now
And be honed by your own hand
As the day gives way to night now
May it echo through the land
And when they turn your words against you
Try to grind you to the ground
Let them know that they might beat you
But they’ll never turn you round
Oh, don’t settle
Oh, not yet
Oh, don’t settle
For less
Well you sought no one’s allegiance
You were cowed by no one’s hand
You outgrew your antecedents
Worked your own corner of the land
And when they set their sights upon you
Come to mine the seam you struck
May you bid them well and wish them luck
Oh, don’t settle
Oh, not yet
Oh, don’t settle
And don’t forget what Liam Clancy said
No envy, no anger, no cruelty, no regrets
No jealousy, no rancour, no confusion; don’t forget
No enemy, no anger, no incredulity; show respect
No envy, no anger, no judgement on no one; lest you forget
Lest you forget what they did to you
Come on, rise off your knees, you’re not beaten yet
No envy, no anger, no judgement on no one; lest you forget
And you’re not going back where you don’t fit
Raining Oceans of Tears
They can send a machine to Mars
But cannot repair a blade of grass
In nature’s backyard
And billions of tears spill into the oceans
Creating a cascading Tsunami of love
Gradually rolling in from a blue horizon
Is this the beginning of the next great flood from above?
The words that are left unsaid
Cannot be misread
Ivor Steven (c) June 2021
A the moment, during another Lockdown situation, I have been reading a book of W.B Yeats poems, called “W. B. Yeats Selected Poems”, which is published by ‘Penguin Classics’ , and I have scanned this poem “Men Improve with the Years” from the book for you to enjoy too. A poem W. B. Yeats wrote in July 1916 …
Ivor Steven (c) June 2021
Ivor.Plumber/Poet 